Page 6 - Insurance Times April 2019

Merger of three PSU gen- Bharti AXA unveils Smart eSurvey app for quicker ve-
eral insurers likely in hicle insurance claims

FY20 Bharti AXA General Insurance, is leveraging technology to ensure convenience
and speedier vehicle insurance claims settle-
The proposed merger of the three
public sec- ment for its customers. It has now introduced a
tor general tech application 'Smart eSurvey' that allows cus-
insurance tomers and partner garages to raise instant ve-
companies hicle insurance claims and get quicker claims
is likely to settlement.
take place in The general insurer is aiming to process 20-25 per cent of its total vehicle in-
current fiscal, according to sources. surance claims in the first year through Smart eSurvey, which is a live stream-
"We will further bring down the ing solution for processing motor insurance claims. Smart eSurvey is an addi-
losses before setting up a combined tional service to facilitate faster claims approval and settlement, based on policy
entity," said one of the officials. terms and conditions.
The other official said the govern- Under this offering, Bharti AXA General Insurance provides its customers the
ment is also looking at issues such as option of on-the-spot video inspection and virtual survey of their damaged
the need for a review of the HR prac- vehicles through the Smart e-Survey App and browser-based web link. "The
tices across the three firms. "Right Smart eSurvey App empowers customers and our partner garages to connect
now there are no synergies," the with us and raise motor insurance claims survey request instantly and
official said. "Any merger will further seamlessly.
impact the commercial interest of
these insurers." It helps vehicle owners receive speedy claims settlement. Our novel initiative
has made the entire motor insurance claims process effortless and more trans-
The government had plans to list the parent,'' Sanjeev Srinivasan, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer,
merged entity. In 2017-18, it had Bharti AXA General Insurance, said.
listed Newindia and GIC RE, divest-
ing 11.65% and 12.5% stakes, re- Using Smart e-Survey, customers and the company's partner garages can ini-
spectively, in the two companies. tiate claim intimation by simply tapping on their smart phones. In any unfortu-
An executive at Oriental India Insur- nate incident, when the insured vehicle is damaged, customers and the garages
ance said that the government is can make a video call to show the impact of the damage. The virtual survey
also expected to infuse some capital can be completed in just a few minutes and claims processing would be initi-
to help these companies. In quarter ated without the surveyor's visit, provided the customer is found eligible for
ended September last year, the his claim.
three insurers had posted a com-
bined loss of around Rs. 1,800 crore. Biyani sees the future in micro insurance
Oriental had posted a loss of Rs 240 Kishore Biyani's Future Group is looking to offer microinsurance to customers
crore in the second quarter of this as part of its digital commerce strategy, with technology
fiscal, against a profit of Rs 200 crore making it an attractive product to sell.
in the quarter ended September
2017. Market share of National In- The company had launched Future Pay wallet last year
surance Company for gross direct and is launching a consumer-lending business soon. "We
premium till December 2018 fell by want to do micro-insurance through the data we have
9.52% to 8.63%. about our customers. We are building a frontend distri-
bution company, which will distribute the products Fu-
United India Insurance share also
came down by around 4.88%. Last ture Generali makes," said Vivek Biyani, a director at
year, the government had initiated a Future Group who also heads its digital business initiatives.
six-point reform agenda for general The combination of easy access to user data and claim settlement through digi-
insurers which included sustainable tal channels has helped insurance startups Go Digit and Cover Fox offer
and prudent business, talent man- customised products and smooth the claims experience. Future Group is at-
agement and customer orientation. tempting to build digital businesses on top on the data it collects and processes.

6 The Insurance Times, April 2019